


Shades of Normal

by Darkangel19881



Category: Naruto
Genre: Autism, Depression, Family, Hope, Love, M/M, fostercare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-12 17:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13551963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Darkangel19881/pseuds/Darkangel19881
Summary: an angry foster child separated from his brother, comes to live with another family,  this one with a child that seems to live in his own little world. can that boy break through Sasuke's walls and show him that the world isn't as bad as Sasuke imagines it to be? SasuNaru





	1. Chapter 1

Shades Of Normal  
Chapter one

Sasuke Uchiha sat in the back seat of his social workers car, staring out the window. His older brother sat in the front seat, equally as quiet as the smaller Uchiha. Sasuke and his brother were being moved to yet another foster home, you see, both Itachi and Sasuke were placed in foster care system when their parents had died and none of their other family wanted to deal with the grieving teenagers. 

Now here they were on their way to another foster home, their fourth of the year. Sasuke supposed that he should be glad that they were still in Konoha were they were from, Sasuke knew that some foster kids got shipped hundreds of miles from their homes. Sasuke was glad that he would still be able to see the few friends that he had made over the years.

As he stared out at the passing scene, Sasuke wished that their family would step up to the plate and take him and Itachi, then again he supposed that it was his fault that both him and brother moved so often, because Sasuke was angry about what had happened with his family, he went out and got caught spray painting the windows of the high school. Sasuke had barely been able to stay out of jail for that, instead he’d ended up with several hours of community service. Itachi hadn’t wanted to be separated from Sasuke, so he had followed his angry little brother into the system. This would be their fourth move of the year and it was only March. Sasuke supposed that was his fault as well, no one seemed to care that Sasuke was angry over the loss of his parents and it was his grief over that loss that made him lash out at the people that were, as he put it, trying to take the place of his real family. Sasuke never minded reminding them that they were nothing to him and they didn’t mind reminding him that he could be moved at any time they wanted. Normally Sasuke wouldn’t care because he didn’t allow himself to get attached to anyone aside from Itachi. However, this last family decided that they wanted to keep Itachi and just have Sasuke moved. Sasuke had lost his shit and had thrown a punch at the foster father. Itachi was the only family Sasuke had and he didn’t want to be separated from him.

“You know Sasuke, you could have avoided all this by ignoring them. You wouldn’t have community service hours if you could just control your temper. You are lucky I was able to keep you out of jail.” Sasuke’s social worker Kakashi Hatake told the sullen teenager.

“They shouldn’t have tried to keep Itachi.” Sasuke replied. He depended on Itachi more than anyone. Itachi kept Sasuke from going completely insane, Sasuke feared that without Itachi there that he would end up taking his own life. After all Itachi knew the memories that Sasuke carried with him, knew the nightmares that plagued Sasuke’s mind. Itachi was the only person that even understood why Sasuke was so angry all the time.

“Have you even considered that Itachi might have been happy there?” Kakashi asked and Sasuke frowned and thought about the question for a minute. Itachi had gotten along with the families that they had lived with briefly, at least until Sasuke’s temper had gotten in the way and they had been moved once again.

“Your poor decisions not only effect you but your brother as well.” Kakashi continued. “It’s unfair to him to ask him to move all the time because you can’t control your temper.”

A sharp pain shot through Sasuke’s heart. He really hadn’t considered how all the moves had effected Itachi. Sasuke supposed his refusal to leave Itachi behind was pretty selfish f him, but since Itachi was the only one who could calm him after his nightmares then Sasuke was just going to have to keep on being selfish.

“Which is why Itachi will be returning to the Sarutobi’s and you will be remaining with Iruka Umino.” Kakashi said looking back at Sasuke in the rear view mirror.

“That’s not fair.” Sasuke protested as Kakashi pulled into a driveway and put the car in park.

“If you want to play that card, it’s not fair to ask Itachi to be continually moved every time that you lose your temper.” Kakashi replied as he threw the car door open and climbed out. Sasuke didn’t say anything to Itachi as he climbed out of the car. Panic was racing through his veins as he stared at the small house that was to now be his new home.

“Sasuke.” Itachi called out softly knowing that Sasuke was hurting over their social worker’s decision. Both Kakashi and the Sarutobi’s thought it would be a good idea to separate them since Sasuke was so dependent on Itachi. Kakashi thought this would be a good way to to discourage Sasuke from losing his temper so much, but Itachi was sure that Sasuke would see this as a punishment instead of a chance to grow. 

“Did you really want me out of your life so bad that you asked them to have me moved?” Sasuke asked before taking his bag from Kakashi and following the silver haired man up the drive. Itachi sighed and wondered how long it would take Sasuke to get over this betrayal.

Sasuke stood beside Kakashi, silently chewing on his lip. No one seemed to realize what they were doing by splitting him and Itachi up, they didn’t seem to care about what it would put Sasuke through.

“It’s going to be okay you know.” Kakashi said glancing over at the fidgeting 13 year old. “You’re going to like, Iruka, he’s a really great guy.”

“I thought the goal was to keep families together?” Sasuke asked staring down at the porch.

“It is.” Kakashi replied knowing that Sasuke was referring to the foster care system in general.

“Then why are you splitting Itachi and I up?” Sasuke asked lifting his head to stare at Kakashi.

“I told you it wasn’t fair to keep moving Itachi around when it was your behavior that got you moved to begin with.” Kakashi replied.

“What about my nightmares?” Sasuke asked. “Itachi is the only one that can help with those.”

“You will have to learn another way to cope.” Kakashi said as a dark haired man with a scar across his nose opened the door.

“You must be Sasuke, I’m Iruka.” the man offered Sasuke a small smile as he stepped to the side to allow Sasuke and Kakashi room to enter. Sasuke grunted and stepped through the doorway.

“Ignore him.” Kakashi told Iruka. “he’s in a bad mood about being moved.”

“I’m sure it’s not an easy thing to do once you get attached to a family.” Iruka said kindly.

“I don’t get attached to people.” Sasuke informed the man. “less chance of getting hurt.”

“Does he have any behavioral issues that I need to know about?” Iruka asked.

“Sasuke can be violent.” Kakashi said ignoring Sasuke’s glare. “He punched his last foster father.” Iruka grimaced.

“I’m not sure he’ll be a good fit here. I already have a child that needs peace and structure. He doesn’t need to be around someone that’s angry and violent.” Iruka said and Sasuke sighed and turned towards the door, for some reason that he couldn’t explain he felt completely and utterly rejected. Would anyone bother looking past his cool exterior to the child that desperately missed his family.

“We don’t have anywhere to put him.” Kakashi said. “The last family won’t take him back. If you don’t take him I will have no choice but to send him to Suna or perhaps someplace farther away from his brother.”

“Fine, he can stay until another placement is found.” Iruka said “but if he acts up I will have him removed and put in jail until you can find someone that will take him.”

“Which will be never.” Sasuke said feeling more broken and lonely than ever. “no one wants someone like me.” Iruka frowned at the dark haired teen, Iruka didn’t think he’d ever heard someone so young sound so broken before. What had life done to this kid to make him sound that way?

“I know you know how to behave.” Kakashi told Sasuke. “So do it. Once you get settled down and have done well for a little while we will talk about you having visits with Itachi.”  
“Wait.” Sasuke said. “you never mentioned that I wouldn’t be able to see my brother.”

“It’s only for a little while.” Kakashi said. “I know that getting adjusted to a new home isn’t going to be easy for you which is why I suggested the no contact rule.” Kakashi said watching as a tear dropped from Sasuke’s eye and rolled down his cheek.

“Are you punishing me?” Sasuke asked. “Is that why you are taking my brother from me?”

“No one is taking him from you.” Kakashi stated. “we just need to separate you two for a time. CPS believes that will help you in the long run.”

“That’s not fair.” Sasuke said.

“I agree.” Iruka said. “It’s unfair to not allow Sasuke to see his brother.”

“Just stay out of trouble and you will get to see him again.” Kakashi said knowing that he was only hurting the teen.

Once Kakashi was gone, Iruka led Sasuke down the hall, pointing out the kitchen on his way.

“It’s not a big place.” Iruka told Sasuke “but its home. The bathroom is the first door on the left, my bedroom is at the end of the hall and your room is here.” Iruka said pausing at the door in the middle of the other two doors. 

“You will be sharing the room with Naruto, and just a warning he likes things to be nice and neat.” Iruka said as he opened the door and allowed Sasuke to enter the room, much like the rest of the house the room was small, in fact it barely fit the two twin sized beds and a small dresser.

Sasuke immediately noticed how neatly things were arranged on half of the dresser. All the photos were arranged from big to small along with different brushes and combs being lined up from small to large and color codded as well. 

“OCD much?” Sasuke asked, barely glancing at Iruka who was turned away talking to someone, as Sasuke dumped his bag on the bed and began to haphazardly toss things on the dresser and into the drawers, not caring if things were neat or not. 

“No,no,no.” a different voice said from the doorway and Sasuke looked up to find a blonde boy with bright blue eyes staring at him. “Not neat, you can’t keep it like that. It’s not in order.” The boy said as he shuffled over to the dresser and without Sasuke’s permission began rearranging the few items that Sasuke had placed on the dresser. The boy arranged the photos of Sasuke and his brother from short to tall before moving onto Sasuke’s hair products and arranging the bottles from small to large, when he finished. The boy turned blues eyes to Sasuke. 

“Must have order, you can’t stay if you don’t have order.” the boy turned and shuffled past Iruka leaving Sasuke stunned by what he had just witnessed.

“That is Naruto.” Iruka said. “And he’s not OCD, he’s Autistic.”

Should I continue? Thanks for reading and reviewing!


	2. Chapter 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Chapter 2

 

 

Shades of Normal 

Chapter two 

"So what is autism?" Sasuke asked after the blonde boy had left. "Is it some kind of disease or something." Iruka shook his head.

"It's a developmental disorder." Iruka explained. "He has trouble communicating and has difficulty with social settings. But really to me it just means that he sees the world differently then we do." Sasuke frowned. He certainly hadn't had any issues rearranging Sasuke's belongings for him. 

"While that isn't really appropriate for him to do." Iruka said. "Just go with it, it's easier to allow him to do that than it is to listen to a meltdown, sometimes it takes a while to get him to calm down."

Sasuke frowned, he wasn't sure he was going to like living with someone who would rearrange Sasuke's things because he didn't like them being out of order. 

"Don't get mad at him." Iruka said. "It's not his fault that he doesn't understand acceptable social behavior, I'm trying to help him with that but its going to take some time to get through to him."

"Is he yours?" Sasuke asked suddenly looking over at the brown haired man standing in the doorway. He supposed it was genetically possible for Iruka to have a child that looked like Naruto. The mother must have been blonde and blue eyed, but if that was the case then where was she?

"No, I'm in the process of adopting him, but like you he is a foster child." Iruka said, a sadness filling Iruka's eyes. 

"What's his story then?" Sasuke asked, as he sat down on the bed. How had someone like Naruto ended up in the foster care system? "How long has he been with you." It was pretty obvious to Sasuke that Iruka cared a great deal about the blue eyed boy that lived with him.

"He's been with me since he was three years old." Iruka said. "And it's been a journey for him, for us both really. He was diagnosed with Autism shortly after he turned three years old, and the moment he was, the moment his parents discovered that Naruto was different from other children the gave him up faster than you could say hot potato." Iruka said, anger flashing in his eyes. "Naruto is a sweet boy, even if he does have his bad days." Sasuke sighed, he was grateful that he'd had parents that had loved him, even if he did have the propensity to get into trouble. It didn't seem right to just abandon a kid because they were different from everyone else.

"That's messed up." Sasuke said finally, "If the parents had truly loved the child they wouldn't have had such an easy time giving him up."

"Maybe not." Iruka said. "but I like to think that things happened the way they were meant to, I believe Naruto was meant to come into my life for a reason. People like his parents didn't deserve someone as special as Naruto." Sasuke sighed, talking about how Naruto's parents had abandoned him only made him miss his own parents even more. No matter how bad Sasuke had behaved he knew that his parents wouldn't ever even think about giving him up. It almost made him feel sorry for the other teen, but Sasuke didn't think that Naruto even understood what had happened.

"Naruto may have a hard time with you being here for a while." Iruka warned Sasuke, "He's used to being the only one here, and he's gotten used to his routine, he won't like having that routine changed."

"I'm pretty sure I can handle it." Sasuke said, as he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"You haven't seen Naruto have a meltdown yet." Iruka said. "and while they are getting farther apart, he still has them every once in a while." 

"Surely it can't be that bad." Sasuke said. "he's what a few months younger than me?"

"Yes, he doesn't understand, he kind of lives in his own little world. Sometimes that can be hard for people to understand." Iruka said. "It's going to take some time for you to used to him as well it taking time for him to get used to you. Just please understand that, and be patient with him, he really does have a hard time being social, and being able to communicate. Those words you heard earlier? Those are pretty much the few he knows, he's considered non verbal because he has so much trouble with speaking, in fact he pretty much doesn't unless he gets upset." Iruka said. Sasuke frowned, he didn't know if he wanted to be around when that happened but what choice would he have unless he wanted to get moved to Suna, which was six hours away from Konoha.

"Do you think, the Sarutobi's will let me talk to Itachi soon?" Sasuke asked, he didn't want to believe that they were cruel enough to keep him from talking to his older brother.

"I'm sure they will." Iruka said. "you mentioned that you had nightmares? Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't really remember the dreams themselves." Sasuke answered honestly "but I wake up terrified out of my skin." 

"Something must have happened to cause you to have the nightmares." Iruka commented. "have you ever talked to a therapist?"

"Aside from my brother, no." Sasuke replied. " but since I can't remember anything what could would it do to talk to anyone?" 

"You would be surprised." Iruka replied, as he pushed himself to his feet. "I have to get Naruto ready for bed." Sasuke nodded, and lay back on the bed, he was tired but he wasn't sure he would even be able to sleep tonight. He had too many thoughts running through his head, would Naruto really have a hard time with Sasuke being there if he didn't interrupt Naruto's routine? 

A few minutes later, Naruto entered the room with Iruka following behind him. Pulling the comforter back on the bed, Iruka helped Naruto climb into the bed, before covering the blonde boy with the cover. 

"Sleep well Naruto." Iruka murmured, careful not to touch Naruto's skin as he gently ruffled the boy's hair. 

"Good night Sasuke, let me know if you need anything." Iruka said and Sasuke nodded before returning his gaze to the ceiling. He was feeling lonely and scared and he wanted Itachi. He didn't know how Kakashi and CPS could think that separating him and his brother was a good idea. 

Taking a deep breath, Sasuke released it slowly before closing his eyes, and turning over on his side. He really just wanted to be back with his brother, but considering how his past foster parents had ignored him to help Itachi deal with the grief of losing their parents. Sasuke hadn't thought it was fair, he needed just as much help as Itachi did, but because Sasuke was younger they figured that he had less memories to sift through so he didn't need as much help as Itachi did. 

"Sasuke, why do you insist on getting into trouble?" His father Fugaku asked after picking Sasuke up from the police station after Sasuke had been picked up for fighting with another student at school.

"He made a comment about you being too busy to love me, that you only loved Itachi because Itachi's perfect." Sasuke said sullenly. "I didn't agree with him and I said so."

"That doesn't make it right for you to beat him until he's unconscious." Fugaku replied. "If that happens again, I won't be able to keep you out of jail." Sasuke sighed of course his father would only care about Sasuke's actions and not what had caused said actions. 

"I'm starting to think that with as much trouble as you've been getting into lately you might be better off in a boy's home." Fugaku said. 

"Because you don't want to deal with the problems that you cause right?" Sasuke asked bitterly, wishing his mother would offer her opinion on the matter but she remained quiet and Sasuke knew that Mikoto Uchiha would go with whatever Fugaku decided to do.

"In fact it's been decided that Monday you will be moved to Konoha's Home for boys." Fugaku said and Sasuke swallowed his shock. Why did it not surprise him that Fugaku didn't want to deal with the problems that his absence had caused. If Fugaku had tried to spend as much time with Sasuke as he did Itachi then Sasuke wouldn't feel the need to act out and get into trouble. He wanted to be as good as his father thought that Itachi was, just because Sasuke didn't make perfect grades it didn't mean that he deserved to be treated like he was dirt beneath his father's feet.

"So you're just giving me up?" Sasuke asked bitterly.

"No son of mine is going to have a police record and flunk out of school." Fugaku replied.

"Mom, are you seriously going to let him abandon me at that place?" Sasuke asked, turning his eyes to his mother who was sitting silently in the front seat.

"You're father has a point." Mikoto said. "You brought shame to the family by getting arrested and by failing the school year." Sasuke's mouth dropped open, he shouldn't have been surprised that she had taken his father's side, she never stood up for Sasuke when Sasuke needed it.

"That's not fair..." Sasuke started but suddenly his world started spinning and shards of glass filled the air as a car slammed into his mother's and his side of the car. Sasuke cried out in pain as felt glass dig into his skin as the car flipped over and over again, eventually coming to rest on the roof.

"Mom, Dad." Sasuke gasped, as pain filled him as he attempted to draw in some air. 

"Sasuke." he heard his father's voice call out, pain filled.

"Dad." Sasuke moaned.

"Sasuke, your not worthy of my love, your mother should have aborted you." Fugaku whispered, causing pain to shoot through Sasuke's heart, Sasuke's world went dark a few seconds later. 

Sasuke shot up in the bed, gasping for air and panting hard. He had lied when he'd told Iruka that he didn't remember the dreams, because he always did. It was always about the day his and Itachi's parents had died. Sasuke would forever remember the last words his father would ever tell him.

Sudden cries filled the air, and Sasuke turned and looked over at Naruto, who had sat up in bed, staring wildly about him. Naruto looked over at him wide eyed as Sasuke slowly tried to calm his breathing. 

"Naruto!" Iruka cried rushing into the room and flipping the light on. "are you okay?" Naruto let out a whimper and threw himself out of the bed and rushed into Iruka's arms before pointing over at Sasuke, who was sitting up, and covered in sweat. Iruka looked over at Sasuke, a concerned look in his eyes.

"Are you okay?" Iruka asked, and Sasuke shrugged. He wanted his brother but he knew that there wasn't anything that Iruka could do about that. 

"I'm okay." Sasuke breathed softly, closing his eyes for a moment. 

"Good." Iruka said offering Sasuke a small smile before returning his attention to Naruto who had started out of the room.

"Naruto, it's not time for the day to start yet. You need to go back to bed." Naruto didn't respond aside from shaking his head.

"Come on Naruto." Iruka said patiently. "it's not time for anyone to be out of bed yet, come lay down." Naruto shook his head, he wanted to go straighten the kitchen cabinets, he didn't want to sleep. Iruka sighed, he could foresee a meltdown coming and quickly. Naruto wasn't hard to get to bed, but if something woke him up in the middle of the night it could be harder than Hades to get him back to sleep. When anything broke that sleep routine it always set Naruto up for a meltdown, Iruka tried to prevent that from happening but he didn't always succeed. Iruka reached out to Naruto and gently touched Naruto's arm attempting to bring him to the bed, but Naruto yanked his arm out of Iruka's hand and stomped his foot glaring at Iruka. 

"Calm down Naruto," Iruka said patiently, although he was tired. He had the patience of a saint when it came to Naruto. He knew the boy didn't understand what was going on with Sasuke's nightmares so Sasuke had unintentionally interrupted Naruto's nighttime routine, which set Naruto off, because he was tired and he didn't know how to deal with it. 

"Come on Naruto." Iruka said soothingly. "I won't touch you but come back to bed." Naruto glared at him, but shuffled over. 

"I know your tired." Iruka murmured as Naruto climbed back into bed. "Good night kiddo." 

"Why doesn't he like to be touched?" Sasuke asked, distracted from his memories by Naruto's yanking his arm out of Iruka's hand.

"He has sensory issues." Iruka explained quietly. "He has a hard time with certain textures and a lot of the time he doesn't want to be touched period, its all a part of being autistic. Do you think you can go back to sleep?" Sasuke shrugged.

"I would rather not, but I probably will." Sasuke replied.

"Maybe you should talk to someone about it" Iruka said.

"What good would it do?" Sasuke asked. "It won't bring my parents back and it won't make my father love me." Iruka frowned at the statement and wondered what made Sasuke believe that his father didn't love him.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Hope you enjoyed and if I didn't get any fact about autism right please let me know, I want to get this as accurate as possible. Liz


End file.
